West Palm Beach aiming for more transparency for taxpayers

Taxpayer skepticism, especially regarding the spending of tax dollars, is a political reality. In an effort to alleviate the constituent sentiment, the City of West Palm Beach wants to make it easier for the public to see how it’s spending tax dollars.

During a May 9 mayor/commission work session, Assistant City Administrator Scott Kelley announced the city is working on posting information on all its public works projects on line.

The effort would provide a map of where all the different public works projects are located, along with the ability to click on any project and see how much it costs, where it is located, when it began and when it will end, and where the money is coming from. The city has already begun to post basic information about some projects on line, including a major sewage pipe repair project that stretches from one end of the city to the other. The information is found at wpb.org/forcemain.

Another effort under way to better inform the public about how their tax dollars are being spent is to put large signs in front of each major project with instructions on how to find more information. The goal is to have the new web pages up and running by the fall.